


The one with Mothering Sunday

by akachankami



Series: Shippers Anonymous [23]
Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: ??? - Freeform, F/M, Fluffy Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 21:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11700336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akachankami/pseuds/akachankami
Summary: Prompt:Elsie watches out the backdoor as the last of the hallboys trots up the drive towards the village. She's been sending her "chicks" home for Mothering Sunday for twenty years, she should be used to it by now. That feeling of emptiness, empty house, empty table, empty heart. Nothing to be done about it at this stage of life. Taking a deep breath & pulling her shawl tighter against the cold March wind blowing through the courtyard, she turns & closes the door firmly behind her.





	The one with Mothering Sunday

For a woman who never bore a child Elsie is uncharacteristically unfamiliar with an empty house. Passing by she smiles weakly at Daisy, back from her busy life at the farm just for the day to have tea with Mrs Patmore, and leaves them to their chitchat knowing that no wine nor the tea she's carrying would fill that lingering feeling of emptiness. Even trying to catch up with work in her sitting room without interruptions is too quiet and too fast done for her likings. So she's left to her dangerous wondering thoughts too soon in the afternoon.

She startles at the bang of the door against the wall pushed open and stares for a second at the empty hallway behind it, till a set of small hands creeps on the surface of her table and a curly blonde head peeks above it.

"Sorry I didn't knock," says the little girl "don't tell Mr Carson, please."

"It won't be necessary, milady," Elsie answers suppressing a grin, spotting the butler's unmistakable shadow in the hallway "How can I help you?"

Four years old Sybbie rounds the table and puts a handful of dandelions and daisies and bluebells on her lap. She's been squeezing them so hard they look limp and wrinkled and for a moment Elsie stares at the small bouquet without a clue.

"Mr Carson helped me pick up flowers and we went to see mama," explains the little girl, and Elsie's heart sinks imagining little Sybbie visiting her mother's grave every year today "and then we came back and we picked some more and I asked Mr Carson permission to give you flowers and he said yes!" she finishes out of breath and with a big smile.

Elsie giggles and takes the offered flowers with glossy eyes. "You're so sweet my dear, thank you! They are beautiful!" she praises "Let's put them in a vase, shall we?"

She takes the child's hand and gives the butler around the corner a knowing look as they make their way to the kitchen to find water and a glass for the bouquet.

Perhaps Mothering Sunday would never be a happy weekend for a motherless child and a childless housekeeper, but looking at the flowers on her table Elsie thinks maybe on this Charles was right: they can be a family at times.

**Author's Note:**

> This too I remember fondly...


End file.
